Pitta, 28, will be an unrestricted free agent come March and is not only one of the Ravens top priorities this offseason, but also one of the best available tight ends on the market.

According to Zrebiec, Pitta would like to remain in Baltimore beyond this season, but doesn’t believe he would be willing to take significantly less money to do so. Zrebiec expects the Ravens to try to get a long-term agreement in place before free agency is underway.

Baltimore could always extend the period of time they have available to negotiate a long-term deal by franchising Pitta, but that would run them close to $6.7 million next season.

Pitta is coming off of a hip injury that sidelined him for most of the season, so there are at least some concerns. Still, he is clearly an important part of their offense and preventing him from signing elsewhere does make sense.